Bank Executive Helen Jo Hahne

Helen Jo Hahne, 60, a lawyer and counsel in the law department of First National Bank of Chicago, in 1965 became the bank`s first woman officer.

Services for Miss Hahne, a longtime resident of the Near North Side, were held Saturday in the chapel at 1035 N. Dearborn St. She died at home Wednesday after a long illness.

``She was a front-runner; it was a major breakthrough,`` a fellow bank officer said. ``She never flouted it, but it was a real accomplishment. That was the mid-1960s, just 22 years ago. How times have changed.``

In 1974, she became the bank`s first woman vice president. Women officers at the bank today include a number of senior vice presidents.

A graduate of Northwestern University Law School, Miss Hahne joined the bank in 1959.

She started as a lawyer in the trust department and later became an assistant vice president of that department.

At the time of her first promotion, the executive dining room did not allow women.

``She was leery,`` her associate said. ``A group of other officers simply took her to lunch there one day. Heads turned, I`ll say that. But that was the end of the question and of the old policy.``